Stay with Me
by write25
Summary: Even Jack needs to take a sick day once in a while, although he's loathe to admit it.  Part 5 of 5: Jack and Ianto return to the Hub, but something's still not right.  COMPLETE.   jack/ianto
1. Chapter 1

Sixty-five seconds. Plenty of time for Jack to come to the door, Ianto decided, knocking again. The Captain hadn't shown up that morning, had left no notice as to where he was, but Tosh had tracked his mobile back to the flat. Seventy seconds. Jack had moved into the modest living space a few months back at the urging of the team, who believed that it would do him good to take some space for himself outside of Hub. Eighty seconds. Ianto tried the door once more, confirming that it was, indeed, locked. He eyed the latch—he knew it was the weakest point and would yield with enough force. Eight-five seconds. He straightened his suit jacket and took a step back, preparing himself for the kick. Launching himself forward, the door opened just as he was about to make contact, revealing a tired- and surprised-looking Jack. Ianto tumbled forward, knocking the other man over and landing in a heap on top of him.

"Christ, Jack," the Welshman said, catching his breath, "Took you long enough."

"I was asleep."

Ianto rolled off of Jack and stood. "You do realize it's two in the afternoon? And that you're still dressed from yesterday."

Jack shrugged. "Long night."

Choosing not to question the Captain's reasoning, Ianto offered a hand to Jack, helping the other to his feet. "Gwen's talking to the girl's mother, Tosh is looking for rift changes in the past 24 hours, and Owen's waiting for you to head to the school to investigate."

Grabbing his greatcoat from the hook on the adjacent wall, Jack donned it and stood in the doorway, his hand on the knob. "Let's go, then."

Ianto looked at the Captain, a puzzled expression on his face. "Ah—Jack?"

"What?" Jack looked impatient and beckoned Ianto to the door with his free hand.

"You might want to put on shoes."

Jack looked down, and then back up. Stepping forward, Ianto gently lifted the Captain's hand off of the knob and led him back inside. He closed the door behind them, and hesitantly pressed the back of his hand to Jack's forehead, and then his cheek, and then his neck.

"You're burning up."

With a sly smile, Jack murmured coyly, "You're pretty sexy too, but we've got work to do. Kids disappearing and such?"

Ianto shook his head and said softly, "You're sick, Jack."

Letting out a snort of laughter, Jack looked ready to counter with another joke that might have been funny in any other situation, but Ianto silenced him with a pointed look. Jack sighed and nodded. Wordlessly, Ianto walked the Captain into his bedroom. He gripped the lapels of Jack's coat and lifted them up and back, slipping the garment off entirely and setting it on the foot of the bed. With swift care, he unbuttoned Jack's shirt, sliding the other man's braces off and continuing to undress him. He noticed the Captain shivering, and quickly found him clothes suitable for bed. Once Jack was dressed, Ianto helped him under the covers and knelt beside him.

"Why didn't you say something, Jack?" The Welshman combed his fingers through Jack's hair. "You could have called any of us—you could have called me."

His eyes closed, Jack sighed. "It's not that bad."

Ianto kissed the Captain's forehead. "Why don't you rest, and I'll be the judge of how bad it is?"

Jack nodded. "Just a few hours. The team's waiting."

"You have a second-in-command for a reason, Jack."

"Hm?"

"Take a few days. Rest. You're the only one who never takes a day off."

Jack shook his head. "Because I'm the leader. I can't just leave."

Ianto pulled his hand back, his breath hitching. He didn't like thinking about the time that Jack did just leave, about the time that they had to do without him. He stood, keeping his eyes averted from the Captain, and picked up the laptop from the desk across the room. Walking it back to the bed, he sat down next to Jack. "Then it's a good thing that you're not just leaving, you're staying here with me."

Opening the laptop, he typed a series of commands, and Tosh's face appeared on screen. "Ianto!" she exclaimed, "Did you find Jack?"

"He's right here," Ianto said, swiveling the computer to show Jack, who smiled weakly. "Could you get Owen to his terminal for a transfer?"

"Is he okay?" Tosh asked, concern visible on her face even on the video feed.

Ianto nodded. "He's a bit under the weather. I'm enforcing some time off."

"Feel better, Jack," she directed at the other man. "I'll go get Owen. Take care." Ianto watched as Tosh disappeared, and then the feed transferred to Owen's computer. The doctor looked bothered, as usual, and raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'Well?' Ianto turned the computer back to Jack.

The Captain cleared his throat. "This is Captain Jack Harkness, authorizing a transfer of control over Torchwood Three to Dr. Owen Harper." He recited a nine-digit code, and after Owen repeated the correlate of Jack's statement and a different code, visibly relaxed against the headboard, dropping his professional tone now that the transfer was complete. "Thanks, Owen."

"Anytime," the doctor replied, "Get some rest—you look rough."

Jack smirked. "Come on, that's just the lighting in here."

"He's lying!" Ianto chimed in from his side of the bed.

"Let your tea boy take care of you so you can get back to work," Owen ordered, "We'll see you in a few days."

Closing the laptop and handing it to Ianto, Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't understand why I'm so tired."

"Never been sick before?" Ianto got off of the bed and set the laptop down before circling back to Jack's side.

"Never in this time—and I'm pretty sure 53rd century sickness and 18th century treatments are way different from the way things are now." Turning his head away from the other man, Jack coughed, grimacing when he turned back to Ianto. "Is it supposed to hurt like this?"

"Mhmm," Ianto affirmed, pressing a kiss to Jack's forehead. "I'll go get you some paracetamol. Where do you keep it?"

Jack shook his head. "Don't have any. Never been sick before."

Ianto stood. "Well then, I'll have to change that. Need anything else?"

Shaking his head again, Jack reached out from under the covers and took Ianto's hand. "Come back quickly."

"Of course." Ianto took a ring of keys from Jack's coat and left, closing the door behind him. When he returned to the flat, he quietly made his way inside, setting down a plastic shopping bag on the floor next to the bed. He smiled at the Captain, who had fallen asleep and was uncharacteristically snoring, undoubtedly due to being sick. Ianto removed his shoes and sat next to Jack, checking the Captain's temperature with the back of his hand every now and then. He didn't want to wake the other man, and decided that any medicating could wait until after some much-needed sleep. Working on the laptop, Ianto occasionally covered his lover with blankets when he noticed the other shivering, or helped him remove them when he started to kick them off.

Around nine that night, illuminated by the blue glow of the computer screen, Jack stirred and sat up. He glanced around the room, at Ianto, at the window, and mumbled, "'S night already?"

His voice was hoarse, and he had barely finished his sentence when he started coughing again. Ianto set the computer down and drew Jack into his arms, pressing his lips against the other's neck. "Did you sleep well?"

Jack shook his head, sniffling and rubbing at the underside of his nose with his hand. "Nightmares. Not anything that I haven't seen before, though."

"I hate seeing you so sick," Ianto murmured.

"I hate being sick," Jack replied, falling into another coughing fit.

Letting go of the other man, Ianto got out of bed and retrieved a few small bottles from the shopping bag, reading the labels and handing Jack an assortment of pills, pointing to each one before opening a bottle of water from the bag. "Paracetamol for your fever, this one's for your cough, and this one for your nose and to help you sleep."

Jack tossed the pills in his mouth and followed them with a mouthful of water, smiling at the man in front of him and leaning closer for a kiss. Ianto moved closer as well, but planted his kiss just to the side of the Captain's mouth, causing the older man to pout. "Not fair."

"No kissing until you're better," Ianto insisted, standing. "Are you hungry?"

Jack shook his head again. "I think I might sleep some more."

Ianto lay down next to the other man and held him close. "I'll be right here if you need anything. Feel better, love."

Jack smiled and nuzzled against Ianto's neck, easily falling back to sleep, facilitated by the medicine. Ianto stayed awake, enjoying the other's breath on his shoulder and too-warm skin against his own. Every time Jack mumbled in his sleep, Ianto was quick with gentle words and reassuring touches. The hours passed quickly, and, in spite of the circumstances, Ianto didn't mind the quiet company of his sleeping lover.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack woke up screaming.

"Not him!" he shouted, scrambling out from under the duvet and falling out of bed. Moving frantically on the floor until he had wedged himself into the corner between the wall and the bureau, he continued. "No, no no no no, not him, take me instead! I'm the one you want!"

Having been on the verge of sleep, it took Ianto a few seconds longer to get to Jack's side. He crouched beside the other man, touched his face, his shoulders. "Jack?" he said, then again with more force. "Jack. Talk to me. What's wrong?"

Anger flared in the captain's eyes. "That's right, take me," he challenged. "Don't you touch him again."

Confused, Ianto tilted Jack's face up so that he could look into his eyes. "Jack, it's me, it's Ianto," he said gently, "No one's going to hurt you, you're safe here."

Jack stared off, seemingly through Ianto for a few long seconds. He shook his head quickly and blinked once, twice. Relief quite obviously flooded through him. He grabbed Ianto's collar and pulled him in for a kiss. "You're alright," he whispered, his hands flying over Ianto's body. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Ianto shook his head. "I'm fine—where—" he paused, unsure of how much he should play into Jack's hallucinations. "Where are we?"

"The basement, I think. We have to get out of here, they'll find us again soon," Jack explained, although Ianto was quite certain that they were still in a fifth-story flat. "This is my fault, they were looking for me, but I won't let them hurt you, I'm so sorry, Ianto."

Jack spoke very rapidly, and he was sweating, his shirt sticking to him and his hair plastered to his forehead. His hurried speech was interrupted by frequent bouts of coughing. Ianto pressed the back of his hand to the other's cheek. His fever had risen. He didn't know by how much, but he didn't know that humans could get that warm. This was getting to be too much for Ianto to handle, although he was loathe to admit it.

"It's okay, Jack, I've got you," he said softly, "We're safe here, but we have to be very quiet." He ran his fingers through Jack's damp hair. Carefully, he shifted position so that he was kneeling on the floor with the captain reclining against him. He continued to do his best to comfort Jack, but it didn't appear to be working—Jack kept trying to get up, trying to get Ianto to leave so that he would be safe from imagined attackers.

"I'll be fine, Ianto, they can kill me and I'll be fine, but you have to get out of here." His eyes were wide as he tried to wrest himself from Ianto's arms. "They're too strong—we can't fight them. You have to leave, now!" There was more than a hint of desperation in his voice. Jack wasn't the type to beg or plead, and while this was technically an order, it didn't sound like one. It scared Ianto.

The Welshman freed up a hand and reached under the collar of his shirt. He pulled out a small, opaque container on a black cord. Popping the top off, he shook three capsules into his hand, looked at them closely, and tilted two of them back inside, capping the container with his thumb. Taking the pill between his fingertips, he held it out to Jack. "Alright," he said, "I'll go. But you have to take this first. It will, um—" he faltered. He was decent at lying when he had time to come up with something, but not so much on the fly. "It will make you invisible to their scans. Buy you some time."

Jack nodded and took to pill from Ianto, swallowing it dry. "Go now."

But Ianto didn't go. He patiently counted to thirty in his head and, sure enough, the captain had fallen asleep by the time he got there. After pressing a kiss to Jack's forehead, Ianto stretched his arm over to the bedside table and grabbed his phone. It was time to call for backup.


	3. Chapter 3

Owen let out the air of the blood pressure cuff that was around Jack's arm and pulled the earpieces of his stethoscope out. "His BP, pulse, and respirations are high, but that's normal for someone running a fever as high as his," he said, undoing the Velcro from the device and rolling it back up. "And nothing's dangerously high, either—I think a couple days of rest should have him back to normal."

"But why was he hallucinating?" Ianto had positioned himself behind Jack in a protective hug, the two of them leaning against the bureau. He kept his voice low, careful not to disturb the sleeping captain. "I've never seen him scared like that."

"I don't know. It's possible that whatever this is affects him differently, or that something else is going on." As Owen spoke, he took out a set of vacuum vials and a needle. With an alcohol swab, he cleaned a small area in the crook of Jack's arm and swiftly filled three of the small containers with blood. "Everything points to some kind of infection though—I'm not terribly concerned."

"You didn't see him arguing with invisible captors." Ianto looked down at Jack, stroking his hair.

"Did it stop on its own?" Owen inquired, looking around in his bag.

Ianto flushed. "Well, I—I Retconned him."

Owen stared at Ianto. "You Retconned your boyfriend? Our boss?"

"Oh, like you haven't used it on a one-night stand before." Ianto didn't often get defensive, but he had been terrified that he had made the wrong choice by using the amnesia pill on Jack. At Owen's shocked look, he finished, "I do inventory the medical supplies, Doctor Harper."

"Right then, moving on," Owen said, a bit too loudly, pulling out a small rigid case from his bag. He opened it and pulled out a syringe, needle, and a small vial. While preparing the injection, he explained, "This should bring his fever down, and if it doesn't in the next few hours, give me a call and I'll come back."

"Thank you, Owen," Ianto said, a small smile crossing his lips. "I didn't want to pull you away from the investigation, but I didn't know what else to do."

Owen let out a snort of laughter and shook his head. "You know as well as I do that Torchwood functions a thousand times better when he's around." He wiped off a patch of skin closer to Jack's shoulder. "Just paracetamol," he explained, administering the injection in one fluid motion and setting the syringe aside.

"Shall we get him back to the bed?" The two men shifted positions and lifted their leader off of the floor. Ianto covered him with the sheet and knelt down beside him, running his fingers through the older man's hair. After reassuring himself that Jack was not in any immediate danger, he stood and turned to Owen. "I'll call you if anything changes."

Snapping his bag shut with all his tools safely inside, Owen nodded. "Anytime." Ianto nodded in acknowledgement and moved to turn back to his sleeping lover, but Owen's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Ianto."

"What?" The Welshman looked at the doctor, trying to conceal his exhaustion. Every word he spoke, every move he made was taxing—he wanted nothing more than to lie down next to Jack and wait for him to get better.

"You look like shit," Owen started, ignoring the indignant look that flashed across the other man's face. "Have you slept at all since you got here?"

Ianto shook his head. "I didn't want something to happen while I was asleep—I'm here to watch him."

Owen lifted his hand off of Ianto's shoulder. "Why don't you shower and get some sleep? I'll stay and watch Jack for a while."

Ianto felt relief just at the thought of a few hours' rest. As he tiredly searched for the words to thank his coworker, he realized just how stunned he was by the kindness of the doctor's offer. He and Owen had never gotten long particularly well—no matter if it was Ianto overstepping his boundaries by going hunting with Jack, personal differences, or something else. It seemed out of character for Owen, so often callous and apathetic, to suddenly offer what Ianto very much needed, but would never venture to ask.

"I'm sure you have work you need to be doing," Ianto protested. "I'll be fine—he'll wake up soon."

Shaking his head, Owen put his bag back down and gently nudged Ianto in the direction of the bathroom. "Look," he said, his voice laced with his usual sarcasm, "I'm not going to be happy if I have to come out here in a few days because you're down with the same thing he's got."

Ianto smiled, no longer politely trying to resist. "Thank you, Owen."

"We've got to watch out for each other." Across the room, Jack stirred, mumbling a stream of incoherent words in his sleep. Ianto turned on one foot, but Owen stopped him from moving any farther. "Ianto. I've got him. Take care of yourself."

Ianto watched as the doctor, in an interesting mixture of professionalism and intense familiarity, spoke to the captain in hushed tones while assessing his pupils with his penlight. In spite of the inevitable conflicts that the men of Torchwood Three had amongst each other, Owen was right—they needed to watch out for each other. Sometimes that meant standing guard with a pistol, sometimes it meant making that extra pot of coffee, and in times like this, it meant enforcing a much-needed break.

Ianto showered, dressed, and climbed into bed next to Jack, not even minding the fact that Owen was sitting mere feet away. It couldn't hurt to have someone watch over him for a few hours as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto opened his eyes and looked around the room. It was light again, and the Captain was still asleep, tangled under a small pile of blankets. Owen was nowhere to be seen, and Ianto was in the process of sitting up and muttering his frustrations at the other's departure when he heard the delicate sound of ceramic being set on the marble countertop in the kitchen. He rolled out of bed and, after pressing a kiss to Jack's forehead, made his way to the kitchen.

Owen stood with a carafe in hand by the far corner, pouring coffee into two mugs. At the sound of Ianto's footsteps, he looked up. "Sleep well?"

"Very well, thank you." When the doctor handed him one of the steaming mugs, Ianto took it gratefully and took a long sip. With a smile, he asked, "Have I ever told you how much I appreciate having you around?"

Owen let out a snort of laughter, shaking his head. Clearly unsure of how to respond, he launched into an update on Jack's condition. "His fever broke around three, and he's definitely not hallucinating anymore."

"Did you talk with him?"

Swallowing a mouthful of his own coffee, Owen nodded. "He woke up a few times. Doesn't remember a thing, of course."

"Good." Ianto let out a sigh. "But it looks like he's in the clear?"

"As far as I can tell, he's on the mend. He'll need to rest for another day or so, but other than that—"

Ianto smiled. "Thank you, Owen. For coming here in the middle of the night, and—for staying. I don't know what I would have done."

"I must be pretty sick if you two are getting along." Jack's voice sounded from the entryway of the kitchen. Both men turned to look at the Captain, who, in spite of being draped in a blanket, was standing as tall as ever. Ianto strode over, taking Jack by the shoulders and guiding him to a nearby chair.

"You should be in bed, Jack," he said, kneeling down and running his fingers through the other's hair. "Are you feeling any better?"

Jack nodded. "Less tired, but everything hurts."

"Let's get you back to bed." Ianto stood, offering a hand to the Captain.

"Been in bed for too long."

"Couch, then."

Taking a minute to stabilize himself after standing, Jack walked into the living room while Ianto and Owen spoke quietly.

"I'll call you if anything changes."

"Yeah. And you take care of yourself. I'm serious."

Ianto smiled and gave a nod. "I will. Thank you again."

Owen left the flat, and Ianto joined Jack on the couch. Wordlessly, he put his hands on the older man's shoulders and gently attempted to work the soreness out of them. Jack let out soft sigh and leaned forward, and Ianto moved his hands lower and rubbed the whole of the Captain's back. "See?" he said, keeping his voice low, "Taking the day off wasn't so bad, was it?"

Jack nodded. "I'd had gotten sick sooner if I'd known it meant getting to have you all to myself."

"You know, you don't have to be sick for us to spend time together," Ianto offered, his fingers working their way down to the base of Jack's spine.

"We always say that we're going to be together, just the two of us, but something always comes up." Jack sat up, stretching and rolling his shoulders back. He slumped to the side and rested his head on Ianto's shoulder. "Thank you for making me stay."

Ianto smiled. "Can you imagine trying to chase a weevil like this?"

Shaking his head, Jack nestling closer against the younger man. "I'd much rather be here with you."

"Same." Ianto turned slightly and kissed the top of Jack's head. "Have you had anything to eat?"

"Owen made sure that I ate a few hours ago." Jack sat up suddenly, raising a hand to his nose and stifling a sneeze. He groaned, rubbing his forehead, and flopped against the back of the couch.

"Headache?" Ianto asked, kissing Jack's temple. The older man nodded, wincing visibly. "Let me get you more paracetamol."

As Ianto moved to stand, Jack's fingers circled around his wrist, tugging him back onto the couch. "No," he said, his voice uncharacteristically pleading, "Stay."

Ianto sat back down and shifted their positions so that Jack was lying on top of him, his head on Ianto's chest. He smoothed the hair on the back of Jack's head and continued rubbing circles on his back. When the Captain's breathing evened out and his body relaxed, Ianto whispered, keeping his voice low to keep from waking the other, "I'm not going anywhere."


	5. Chapter 5

Jack sauntered into the Hub with Ianto a step behind. Tosh and Gwen looked up from their work and smiled, clearly excited to have more company besides Owen. The doctor, on the other hand, continued with the samples he was examining, and it was a few minutes before he degloved and joined the others in the center of the building.

"This is Captain Jack Harkness ordering a return of control over Torchwood Three from Doctor Owen Harper," he announced, posing somewhat grandiosely with his arms akimbo and head tilted skyward. Once again, Owen gave his response, walking over to the Captain and clapping him on the shoulder.

"You're looking better than the last time I saw you," he commented.

"Nothing like forty-eight hours of beauty sleep," Jack quipped. Owen rolled his eyes.

Glad to see that everything had returned to normal, Ianto made his way over to the coffee machine, hoping that much-needed caffeine would help to dull the headache he'd been nursing since he had woken up, and that something warm would get him to stop shivering. Even with his coat and scarf still on, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck sticking up.

While Tosh and Gwen brought Jack up to speed on the current situation, Owen went over to Ianto and leaned against the table. "You told me you'd take care of yourself."

"I'm fine," Ianto stated, although the tightness in his chest was starting to make him think otherwise.

"Ianto, I can see the heat coming off of you. You need to—"

Ianto held up one hand to the doctor, interrupting him mid-sentence as he turned away and stifled a sneeze against his other hand. Before he could return to face Owen, he felt strong arms circling around him and a hand on the back of his head. He closed his eyes and gave into the touch, resting his head on Jack's shoulder, the scent of the older man giving away his identity. As the Captain began to move his other hand in gentle circles on the Welshman's back, Ianto, exhausted and caught off-guard, let out a sigh that turned into a weak cough. He felt Jack turn his head and press his lips to Ianto's forehead, and nodded in assent when the older man murmured gently, "I think it's bedtime for you."

Ianto allowed himself to be led by the hand to Jack's office, and obeyed when the Captain ushered him onto the couch. He shifted positions when the other removed his coat and scarf, and silently curled up on his side, drawing around his shoulders the blanket that Jack draped over him. He shivered, only able to stop trembling when he felt the other man's warm hands on his face.

"Why didn't you say something?" Jack asked, brushing Ianto's hair off of his forehead. "I would have stayed home and taken care of you there."

Ianto shook his head. "You need to be here. I'll be fine wherever."

Jack leaned close and pressed his lips to Ianto's cheek. "You know, a few days ago, you were the one telling me that I needed to take a few days off."

About to reply, Ianto paused when he heard an alarm go off downstairs. He heard Owen barking orders, and Tosh delivering updates on the Rift monitor. "Go," he told the Captain, his voice audibly congested. "Your team needs you."

Jack peered out the window at the action below, but did not move to rise off the couch. "It looks like they've got things under control."

After turning away to cough, Ianto added hoarsely, "The world needs you."

"The world can wait." The look in Jack's eyes told Ianto that he was staying right there, his warm hands on Ianto's skin. Ianto, feverish and tired and amazed that Jack was still there, reached up and grabbed the older man by the lapels of his coat and pulled him close so that their mouths were almost touching. With his breath hot on Ianto's lips, Jack exhaled, "I thought you said no kissing until we were better."

"I said no kissing until you were better," Ianto corrected. "And you look pretty healthy to me."

Jack's lips curved into a smile. "Can't argue with that logic," he conceded, allowing Ianto to pull him the last inch into a kiss.


End file.
